


Cardinal Rising

by metaphoricallylivin



Series: Earth 25: Oh, Yeah I'm An Ugly Mess [1]
Category: DCU
Genre: Gen, Gen Work, Murder, Sexual Abuse, Trans Characters, it's jason tho so not a real surprise someone's getting nerfed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 05:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10824615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metaphoricallylivin/pseuds/metaphoricallylivin
Summary: Toby's father deserved death, death was maybe even a mercy. He'd destroyed a child. Jason had killed for less.





	1. Part One: Every Good Thing I Kill It, Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Toby has been sexually abused and this affects him. I'm pretty sure I tagged everything there is, but also just warning Toby is a minor. He propositions Jason as a possible payment, Jason shuts that shit down.
> 
> On another note please give me feedback. It's hard for me to tell what people thought of the writing I put so much work into without y'all telling me.
> 
> Chap title comes from Reaper Man by Mother Mother

Toby was 12 years old when his sister was born. She had a scrunched up face and onyx eyes, so dark that it was hard to tell the difference between her pupils and her irises. She was born a couple months before his 13th birthday and she would cry all the time. Their father would never go to help her, to feed her, that duty fell on Toby. Toby loved her, but he hated that she was his responsibility, that at 12 he was responsible for another person.

 

A couple weeks later his dad got drunk and dropped Beth and Toby started saving money. He’d heard a rumor about the Red Hood, that he could kill someone for you if you brought him enough money. As the weeks continued and his father somehow got worse Toby decided to move up the timeline and he took the $120 he had saved from walking the neighbor’s dog to the Red Hood’s terf. He walked down the street and into a bar he’d saw that Red Hood frequented from a Reddit devoted to sightings of him, surveying the clientele. He looked for the Red Hood’s signature leather jacket. He found what he was looking for sipping a beer at one of the booths.

 

As Toby headed to the booth he moved as deliberately as he could, he wanted to seem older than he was. He crossed the room and scooted his way into the booth.

 

“I need to hire you,” Toby said. The Red Hood seemed to squint his eyes at Toby as though looking for something wrong with him.

 

“What are you? 15? Beat it, kid,” The Red Hood said before taking another long sip of beer.

 

“I’m 13. I need you to kill my father. How much would that cost? I have $120. But I can work it off for you,” Toby said. He paused and swallowed hard. “I’ll have sex with you, if that’s what you like.”

 

The Red Hood’s eyes went wide. “I’m not a pedophile. Who the fuck even has sex with kids?”

 

Toby sent his eyes downcast, he fidgeted with his hands. He didn’t know what to do so he just sat still.

 

“I’ll do it. For free,” The Red Hood said. “You’re coming to my apartment tonight and I’ll kill him. Fuck, who does that to their own kid?”

 

“I have a little sister. She’s almost six months old, that’s why I’m here, I don’t want him to do the same to her. Let me pack up some stuff for her and I’ll say I’m going to the park or something, then you can kill them,” Toby said.

 

“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” The Red Hood asked.

 

“Um, Toby Jacobsen. What’s yours?” Toby asked.

 

“Jason. Jason Todd,” The Red Hood, no, Jason, said.

 

* * *

 

Jason promised Toby that he’d make sure Beth and him were safe. Toby was small and he in some way reminded Jason a lot of himself as a kid. He was clearly loyal and stubborn, but he was also traumatized. No kid should be like that, that scared and screwed up enough to want someone dead and clever enough to figure out maybe there was a way.

 

Before Jason returned from the job he stopped by Dick’s place. Toby wanted Beth to be raised away from him, he’d said that he didn’t want to poison her and in some screwed up way Jason understood that. He knew what it felt like to be poison, to take everything good around you and sink your teeth in until it died. Until you ruined it.

 

“I need to ask a favor of you,” Jason said, he was sitting at Dick’s table when he got home.

 

“Why?” Dick asked as he moved towards the sink, he pulled out a box of Lucky Charms and proceeded to pour himself a bowl.

 

“I met this kid. Their dad was abusing them and they have a little sister, her name is Beth and she's a real cute kid. The kid I met, their name is Toby, they think they're poison, that if they have contact with Beth they'll ruin her. I was wondering if you’d take care of her? I'll make up some paperwork, fake it for you,” Jason said.

 

“I wasn't planning on having kids,” Dick said, “I mean I want them, but I'm 23 and I'm not in a relationship.”

 

“Dick, I'll owe you big time. I want her to be raised by someone who won't fuck her up, and let's be real that’s not Bruce. Damian would probably kill her if she got more attention than him,” Jason said. Dick glared, Jason knew that Dick had helped acclimated Damian to being part of society and that he didn't quite take kindly to jokes about him.

 

“Let me meet her. I'm not saying yes, but I'll consider it,” Dick said. Jason knew that that meant it was pretty much in the back, the second Dick held Beth he'd be smitten and it'd all be good.

 

* * *

 

Dick was smitten. Whenever Beth made a gurgling noise his heart sored. She was adorable and it was hard not to love her even a little. She made it too easy.

 

“I’ll do it,” Dick said. “Imma call Alfred, maybe he can find someone to take care of Toby too, since I know Toby doesn’t want to be with Beth.”

 

“No, I stay with Jason,” Toby said. His eyes made it clear he trusted Jason.

 

Jason looked down at Toby, his arms were crossed and he had a glare set on his face, making it clear no wasn’t an acceptable answer. Part of Jason knew that he wasn’t the best person to take care for a child, but Toby wasn’t exactly any kid. His dad had abused him and he was stubborn and a familiar darkness lurked in his eyes.

 

“Okay, kid, but if you’re living with me you’re not going untrained,” Jason said.

  
There was a long pause as Toby seemed to consider this, before he spoke, “Deal.”


	2. I've Grown Tired Of This Body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from Body by Mother Mother.

Toby had lived with Jason for two months when he came to Jason and said, with all the seriousness that he could muster, that he was a boy. He seemed rather worked up about it, his eyes were red and he seemed incredibly sad so Jason decided to react accordingly, he told Toby it was okay, that he wasn't going anywhere.

 

“Do you want your hair cut?” Jason asked, he was still hugging Toby and his spring-y locks were bouncing around as Toby shook, without his hair it would've almost been hard to tell.

 

“Yes,” Toby said, his voice was small and even. “Like yours.”

 

Jason laughed a little bit, Toby thought that he'd hung the moon and he worked hard to emulate Jason, even in small ways. He would often wear red and when Jason taught him things like how to punch and dodge and stay alive in a fight Toby listened diligently. Of course if Toby was cutting his hair he'd want it like Jason’s hair.

 

“That might not look good on you, just as a warning. I've got different hair than you. I have a friend, her name is Ana, she'll get you a good haircut. She did mine, when I… first came back. I had too many scars so I needed a new style,” Jason said.

 

Toby paused to consider what Jason had said before nodding. He wiped away the tears that were pooling on his cheeks.

 

“Jason? Can I get some new clothes… not a lot! Just some stuff that's a little more… masculine?” Toby asked.

 

“Sure thing, little bird,” Jason said. It was what Dick had called him when he'd first moved in and he was hesitant, it worked for Toby better than he'd expected.

 

“Thank you,” Toby said.

 

“I'll call Alfred, see if he can bring over some of my old stuff? Is that okay?” Jason asked. Toby nodded. “Good.”

 

* * *

 

Toby's haircut went well, Ana said that Toby was a cute kid. She shaved the sides of Toby’s head and let his hair be long enough on the top of his head that it was a mess of curls still, all seemingly piled towards the front. Every once in awhile Ana would tell Toby to calm down, that he was shaking the chair. Toby would still for a few minutes before the process started again. By the end of the haircut Toby was smiling so hard Jason’s face hurt.

 

“Do you like it?” Toby asked.

 

“You look great, kiddo,” Jason said before giving Toby a thumbs up.

 

Toby beamed at him. Jason was almost surprised when he felt warm and fuzzy looking at Toby. The kid had been through hell and he was still a good person, better than Jason was at this point. Jason knew that it probably had something to do with him and the fact that Jason on some level knew what it was like to be broken like that. He was fond of the kid at this point.

 

“Alfie’s coming by soon. He'll have some new clothes for you,” Jason said, he then looked up at Ana and pulled some money out of his pocket. He'd known Ana back when he was a kid and he was going to tip her way too much. “Thank you, really. For everything.” He handed her two hundred dollar bills.

 

“Jason, this is a lot of money,” Ana said. 

 

Jason made it so her hand folded over the crumpled bills. “I make a lot more now.”

 

Ana seemed to have a brief internal turmoil before she pocketed the money. She knew she wouldn't win against Jason.

 

“Toby say thank you,” Jason instructed.

 

“Thank you, Ana. I really like my haircut,” Toby said. He was still touching it, enjoying the bouncy feeling of his shorter hair.

 

When they got home, Toby immediately headed for the training room. Home was, for now, a converted warehouse. There was the master bedroom and Toby’s bedroom, a kitchen, an armory, and a training room. Jason had bought it for the high ceilings, high enough that he could practice acrobatics and such in the training room. 

 

Toby held an affinity for climbing, but acrobatics seemed to scared him. Jason had taken him up to the top once, like Dick had done for him when he first joined the family, and told him to fall. That he shouldn't struggle and just let himself fall and the net would catch him. Toby had freaked out and accidentally fallen off. Jason knew that acrobatics took trust, a willingness to know someone would catch you, and he didn't think Toby had that yet, that he was too used to relying on himself.

 

Alfred arrived and brought a box of Jason’s old clothing with him. He’d given Alfred the measurements he’d taken a few weeks ago for a costume for Toby.

 

“Thanks, Alfred. I’m sure Toby will love these,” Jason said, he smiled wide, he loved Alfred.

 

“You’re welcome, Master Jason. Master Bruce had me bring this for Toby too,” Alfred said before pulling out an envelope from his jacket. “Master Bruce does not approve of you raising the boy, but if you insist upon doing so he needs to go to a proper school.”   
  


Jason hadn’t quite thought about school, he knew summer was coming to an end and that he’d need to go to school, but he hadn’t considered where. He opened the envelope and saw that it was a letter from Bruce, he was paying for Toby to go to Gotham Academy. Jason couldn’t wait to see how that went.

 

* * *

 

Toby’s first day at Gotham Academy filled him with a feeling of total anxiousness. Jason had dropped him off and promised to pick him up at the end of the day. The night before Toby had had a meltdown and asked Jason why he had to go to school. Seeing Toby unhappy made Jason feel guilty as fuck. He was the one who was sending Toby to the glorified lion's den that was Gotham Academy.

Toby’s sat down in his homeroom class and silently watched as kids filtered into the room. He tapped his leg on the ground and waited for the teacher to arrive. It seemed everyone else already knew each other and they all looked at Toby as though he was an alien. After 10 minutes of waiting the teacher entered, followed by a girl. Her hair was black and she had dark brown eyes that seemed to hold much more than met the eye.

 

“We have two new students,” she said. “This is Cassandra Wayne,” she pointed to the girl next to her. “Please be nice to her. We also have Toby Conroy. Toby please stand.”   
  


Toby stood up, he smoothed out his shirt. Everyone was looking at him and every part of him felt self conscious. Everyone looked at him and they all seemed to be scrutinizing him.

 

“Hi… I’m Toby,” he said, waving a little. 

  
The teacher instructed Cassandra to sit down at the empty desk next to Toby. She looked to Toby and she looked him up and down before waving at Toby a little. Toby waved back, giving her a little smile.


End file.
